The invention relates to a filtering system and more specifically to a fluidized bed biological filter system for fish tanks.
In recent years more adults and children have gotten into the hobby of having pet fish and raising pet fish. Additionally, fish tanks or aquariums are found in many restaurants and offices. One problem they all have in common is the need to dispose of the fish waste products.
Presently most aquarium's have a separate filtration tank into which the contaminated water is pumped for processing. A major drawback of the present system resides in the fact these filtration tanks are usually between 20 to 50 percent of the size of the fish tank with which it is used. Often times this filtration tank is placed in close proximity to the aquarium tank but preferably out of sight.
Another problem exists in fish tanks which use gravel in their bottom. The water that is pumped through this gravel has a tendency to channel wherever it is easiest to travel. Therefore you have bacteria that is healthy in areas where the water is moving. In the areas the water is not moving, bad bacteria, anaerobic bacteria form pockets of gases. If a person stirs up a pocket of gravel that has not been stirred for three or four months, it will kill all of the fish in a tank.
Another problem with the use of gravel is each piece of gravel has only so much surface area to which the bacteria can attach itself. By using smaller gravel it is possible to obtain more surface area for the bacteria but it cuts down on the space between the respective pieces of gravel and sometimes it compacts into a solid layer.
It is an object of the invention to provide a novel fluidized bed biological filter system that eliminates the need for gravel in the bottom of the fish tank.
It is another object of the invention to provide a novel fluidized bed biological filter system that drastically reduces the size of the tank required for filtering the contaminated water of a fish aquarium.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel fluidized bed biological filter system that utilizes a particulate material whose size is in the range of 50 to 300 microns thereby providing an enormous amount of surface area for the bacteria to contact as opposed to the amount of surface area on conventional gravel used in the fish tanks.